Author's Notes: We're baaaaaack. First chappy, here you are! Enjoy it, huh?
Bask in the irony.
Co-authored with Aira. account name: (miraiaira)
A quote by Aira to all of you:
"When things get angsty, that's Aira, when things get crazy, that's Bunny, when thinks go "Wow, this is novel stuff!" that's Bunny again and when it looks like fanfic material, well, that's Aira. : 3"
She's too hard on herself.
The black cat looked into the eyes of the small grade-schooler holding it before letting out a low and dangerous hiss. However, it only made the boy laugh heartily. Grinning proudly like the feat had been so great indeed, the boy with chestnut brown hair turned to the shorter, chubbier boy beside him before proudly saying, "Look, look! It hissed! I made it hiss!"
The shorter, chubbier boy frowned and shook his head. He sneered at the first boy and snatched the cat from him by grabbing its tail. "Bah! I can make it howl you know!"
The third boy, the tallest one who had jet black hair, nodded in agreement. "I'm sure I can make it do more than howl!"
The first frowned and snatched the cat back. "Well… I can make it scream!"
"Idiot, cats can't scream!" A fourth boy -- a small, lanky brunette -- pointed out smugly, walking up to them with a 100 yen coin held up between two fingers. "Vesu-neechan said whoever makes the cat suffer most gets 100 yen, by the way! And I'm sure I'm gonna get it, so I'm holdin' it!"
The short, chubby boy scowled and tried to snatch the coin from the brunette who simply sidestepped him. He laughed when the heavier boy almost fell down to the ground face-first.
"You're so not gonna get it!" the chubby boy interjected before spluttering and pointing. "Coz... coz I'm making it scream!"
"Cat's can't scream, idiot!" The brunette repeated, rolling his eyes. He grabbed the cat from the first boy violently. He held it up by its tail like an exhibition. "I'll show you how to torture a cat!"
"What was that about torturing cats?"
The four boys stiffened and paused for a moment. Slowly, ever-so-slowly, the quartet craned their heads back.
A tall and curvy woman stood before the boys, hands on her hips. Her brown hair was slicked back off her forehead and face, pulled tightly in a bun. A thin trail of yellow ribbons fell from the bun. Her dark brown eyes, so dark they could be black, burned.
The lanky brunette swallowed hard. This woman didn't seem like good news…
"We're just pla—"
"Vesu-neechan said she'd give the person who can torture this cat the best 100 yen!!" the portly child cried triumphantly. He grabbed the cat and held up to the woman's face. Her left eye twitched just the slightest.
"Idiot!" the scrawny boy cried, stealing back the cat. He turned to the perturbed woman. "He was just kidding! We weren't doing anything bad! Honest, ma'am."
The woman's eye twitched once more.
"'Ma'am'…?" she questioned slowly, voice low. None of the boys moved. "Do I look like a 'ma'am' to you?!" she growled, eyes darkening further.
The skinny boy, who apparently liked to rule the group, pointed to the side frantically. "I'm sorry!" he screamed, waving his arm about. "It's all her fault, I swear!!"
The woman paused and turned her head in the direction of the flailing arm. Her dark eyes fell on a teenager adorned in a Juuban high-school uniform. Those same eyes narrowed into slits.
The woman reached a hand out, grabbed the cat, and stormed over to the teen. The girl was sitting on the curb, headphones in her ears. She was staring disinterestedly into the street, popping bubble gum.
"Hey," the woman growled, stopping next to the girl. The red-head below didn't notice. "Hey!" the woman tried again. There was still no response. Seething, the woman shoved the cat into the girl's face and screamed "HEY!!"
The girl jumped back and then whipped her head up to stare the woman in the eyes. The girl's red eyes were opened wide for a moment and then slowly she began to relax. The teen reached up and pulled her headphones out of her ears. The faint melody from the band she was listening to drifted along in the morning air.
"Hi there, Kara-chan," the girl stated nonchalantly, popping a bubble.
Karaberas set her jaw, gripping that cat a bit too tightly. Neither female noticed that the cat was glaring at them.
"Vesu-chan…" Karaberas began slowly. "I should have know it'd be you."
"Aww, Kara-chan!" Vesu Vesu snapped another bubble. "You're too kind."
Sighing in aggravation, the older female shook the cat. "What the hell were you making those kids do to this cat?"
Vesu Vesu raised a red eyebrow. "You don't know?" She reached a hand forward and took the cat from a hesitant Karaberas. She held the feline so that that brunette could see its face. "Look at it."
The middle sister of the Ayakashi siblings stared for a moment. She tried to take in the situation, wondering if this was supposed to strike up a memory…
It was a black cat, she could see. Her dark eyes fell downwards – female. She frowned. Was this supposed to be ringing a bell? Karaberas looked into the cat's red irises. An out of place white-tuff of fur rested between its eyes.
"What am I looking for?" she queried, confused.
Vesu Vesu frowned. "It's a black cat!!" she cried around her wad of bubble gum.
Karaberas blinked. "So…?"
"So black cats are bad luck!" The red-haired girl stood up, still holding the cat. She looked passed Karaberas at the kids who were still standing there, dumbfounded. "Hey brats! Come finish what you started!"
Karaberas' mouth fell. "No! They will do no such thing!" She grabbed the cat.
"They will, too!" the braided teen replied, yanking back the feline.
"No, they won't!" the older woman countered stubbornly. She stole the cat.
Vesu Vesu stole it back. "Yes," the girl hissed, "they will!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"I said NO!"
"AND I SAID YES!"
The scrawny boy gulped. He turned to his comrades and pulled them into a huddle. "Look, we've already got the money – why don't we just get of here?" The three other boys nodded quickly and they scurried off. The battling women didn't even notice.
The feline, being torn back and forth between the two, sighed heavily. It wasn't picked up, however, because of the female screaming. The cat rolled it's red eyes and tried to keep from getting dizzy as it was tossed back and forth. This took the phrase "cat fight" to a whole new level…
By now, the fight was beyond the welfare of the cat, which (judging by the way they were throwing her about) the two had stopped caring about a while ago. This was now a fight of broken pride, bruised egos, and the stubborn arrogance that is a woman.
Vesu Vesu was only mere seconds away from wadding up her gum and spitting it right in Karaberas' face. However, the teen was interrupted when another teen sprinted around the corner.
The newcomer was running frantically, blonde hair flaying behind her. The girl halted in shock as she caught sight of the two fighting woman.
Karaberas and Vesu Vesu froze, each holding onto a certain appendage of the abused cat. They stared wide eyed at the blonde. Neither of the three moved for a moment.
The blonde was the first to speak, eyes on Vesu Vesu. "Don't you…" she eyed the red-head up and down, "go to my school?"
Vesu Vesu felt like responding "as if the uniform wasn't enough of a hint", but refrained.
"Tsukino-san!" the other girl cried in fake glee. "How nice to see you this morning!" She silently prayed that her cheesy antics would divert the blonde's attention from the cat.
Tsukino Usagi's eyes fell to the cat. She stared for a moment and then shrugged.
"You're going to be late, you know," the odango-haired teen called over her shoulder as she ran off. The cat mewed, begging her to come back, but to no avail.
Karaberas smirked. "Yes, little Vesu-chan, you're going to be late for school."
Vesu Vesu whipped her head to Karaberas and hissed. "Don't you reprimand me, ma'am."
The older woman let out a screech and removed her hands from the cat. She lunged forward, aiming for the red-heads neck. Squealing, Vesu Vesu dropped the feline and stumbled backwards. The cat, of course, landed on its feet.
Taking this as an opportune get-away, the feline scrambled across the street, ignoring the screeching women.
With its senses still dulled (by the continuous shaking, pushing, pulling, and high-toned screaming) the cat didn't notice the shiny, blue car coming up behind it. At the very last moment the car's tires screeched into a halt, a mere few inches to literally running over the cat's small form. The feline stared at the huge car then - when its presence finally registered in her brain - with wide, confused eyes. The fact that she could have been dead by now, if the driver hadn't stopped in time, had not quite yet managed to sink in.
The sound of car doors opening alerted the cat, though she couldn't find it in herself to move away. She was seemingly rooted to the ground. Only moments later the feline found herself scooped into the warm, loving arms of a girl. It greatly troubled the cat, yet, at the same time eased her. She purred and began nuzzling herself on the girl's chest, forgetting her true purpose and reason for existence, even if it was just for a while.
"Thank goodness you're alright. I thought we'd run over you..." The girl sighed and the cat took looked up curiously. A pair of deep blue eyes in a face that was familiar, though only as a distant memory, stared down at her.
A hand gently pushed her head down, as if urging her to sleep. The cat complied as she felt herself being carried back into the car. The doors closed and she felt another set of eyes scrutinizing her.
"Is it okay? I hope I didn't scare it...." the woman in the driver's seat asked quickly. Worry was obviously present in her voice. She started to run the car again.
The girl beside her shook her head and smiled, tilting her head slightly to watch the woman. "No, she's fine. Just fine..." She paused and stared at the small cat in her arms for a few short moments before turning to the woman again and leaning forward slightly. Her eyebrows creased and she watched the woman closely as she asked, "Uh... do you… do you think... I can keep it, Mom?"
The woman regarded her with a small sideways glance and a quiet, understanding smile. "You can't take her back to school though."
The girl blinked once and then opened her mouth in a smile. "I won't take her to school then... Will you take her home?"
"Ah... I will, and give her a bath, too, before I leave for work." Black eyes watched the girl closely, taking in every bit of that priceless, rare display of indescribable happiness.
"Thank you," the girl whispered quietly as she turned away. She hugged the cat tighter, not caring about how many days it had been in the streets, unfed, or unbathed.
Her mother smiled as she continued driving. "What do you plan on naming it, Ami?"
Ami smiled and readjusted the glasses perched on her nose. She petted the cat, running her slender fingers across its smooth back soothingly. "I haven't thought about it yet...I'll have to ask her."
The mother looked at her child once, and then the cat, before turning her gaze on the road. She smiled inwardly, a small part of her wondering just why her genius of a daughter would say such a thing. The gate to Juuban High-school came up in front of them only minutes later and she pulled up right beside it.
"Okay, we're here."
Ami smiled and tucked a stray strand of short, blue hair behind her ear. She handed the cat to her expecting mother and gathered her things. She pecked her mother on the cheek and opened the door.
"Bye Mom. Have a good day." Ami got out of the car and looked to her new pet. "Bye, bye, kitty. You have a good day, too."
Ami closed the car door behind her and her mother drove off, out of site.
Author's notes: We're still trying to get a hang of this, since neither one of us has ever co-authored a fic with someone before. It's difficult, I tell you!! She lives in a 12 hour time-zone difference! It's hard! –cries-
Oh, and Aira wants you all to know, that she thinks she's insane.
But she's wrong.
I am.